The Same Old Way

In your THIS IS ELEMENT video you state, "we have a huge influx and convergence of social groups that has not been met by the local church just doing the same old thing in the same old way." What is the same old thing and the same old way?

Glad you asked, and I would recommend at some point you listen through our Gospel Class as the weeks on Missional Church cover this very idea. I reiterate, listen to the WHOLE Gospel Class as it all fits together, bits and pieces won't help.
 
Most people are indoctrinated into church culture before they understand the truth of the freedom of the gospel (we are taught the correct jokes, dress, views on alcohol, and political affiliation before we truly understand the gospel). This causes such a rift in people's views of God as they grow because they find it hard to differentiate between the legalism they have been taught, and the grace that comes from the gospel.
 
For the last couple hundred years people have been taught that you bring someone to church, a revival, a bible study…then they hear the "gospel"…then you ask "do you believe in Jesus, do you know where you will go when you die," as if the point of Jesus is about our death and not our life (Luke 20:38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.) Don't get me wrong, I love Billy Graham and plenty of churches are still working with this model, but it is becoming less effective.
 
If people believe and confess they are then welcomed into the community, if not we keep "working" on them until they do believe. This is what is called "Roman Evangelism" and it looks like this: Believe, Behave, Belong. That is how most churches do it, and it worked for a really long time, but I think that will be less and less effective as time moves on because our society is becoming increasingly pagan in its cultural values (it is why we hear statements like: "there is no absolute truth, everything is relative," and, "it just 'works' for me.")
 
What Element believes a church in America must do is follow a Celtic type of model that looks like this: Belong, Believe, Behave. George Hunter in The Celtic Way of Evangelism lays this out really well. Today we should invite people to belong to our community, love them, take care of their needs and invite them to participate in the life of the church as we give and serve each other and the community. If we are truly living missionally, most people will see a difference in how we worship and begin to understand Jesus by not just our words, but by what we do, and they in turn would believe as well. Once they believe they continue on with what they already are doing, living the life of gospel, but now with the strength of God's Spirit living in and through them. Their lives and attitudes change because it is Christ who is changing them.
 
There are all kinds of ways to better understand the individual sub-cultures we live in as well (I would also recommend Center Church by Tim Keller, but also the Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler about keeping the gospel as it is while living on Mission). You can click here: http://audio.ourelement.org/gospelclass/pdf/000.Gospel_Class.pdf and get our gospel class booklet, on page 39 is a chart of how Belong, Believe, Behave is lived out.